Burning Rubber: Shipside Down, Streetside Up
by Kitsune Foxfire
Summary: A continuation of the Omake side stories found in Burning Rubber. Shipside Down takes place on Moby Dick. Streetside Up takes place in New York City. First two chapters can be found in Burning Rubber.
1. SHIPSIDE DOWN 1

**SHIPSIDE DOWN**

_**ACE POV**_

The noise was what woke him up. Ace was too used to falling asleep in weird places to be very uncomfortable, despite the fact that there was something digging into his back. Groggily he thought he heard one of Luffy's friends shouting and he groaned in annoyance. It sounded like his little brother had let everyone into their apartment again, and he was _not_ in the mood to deal with this shit. He was pretty sure that he'd been up way too late watching _Pirates of the Caribbean_ with his brothers, and he had a test this afternoon. Speaking of college… didn't his brother have classes? No...no he was not going to get up and find out why the little idiot was at home. He was going to ignore the noise and the light and go back to sleep for a few more hours.

"Luffy! Look out! Pop green: Devil's snare!"

"Shihihihi! Thanks, Usopp!" His brother shouted.

Ace groaned, "_Luffy…_" he threw a hand over his eyes. "Too loud."

"S'rry Ace…." Came the sleepy response from his right. He heard his brother yawn and shift around. It sounded like his little brother had kicked him off the bed again. Felt that way, too.

_Wait a second…_ Ace was sure there was something wrong with that thought, but he wasn't quite sure what it could be. He rolled over on his side and went to push himself up a bit only to have his hand hit open space. Surprised, his eyes snapped open as he felt himself start to fall. Ace was so shocked by his surroundings he didn't even ignite as he plummeted straight down. He had to be seeing things, because there was no way someone had stuck a _mast_ in their apartment. When he slammed into hard wood with enough force to knock the air out of him he blinked up in confusion at the sky. A sky that was partially eclipsed by sails. Rolling onto his side as he wheezed for breath he took in the wide deck, the smell of the sea, and a bunch of people running around.

"I've _got_ to be tripping." He muttered, frowning. There was a shout, drawing his attention. His brows wrinkled at the sight of Marco airborne, held aloft by a pair of flaming wings in place of his arms. "Thatch. He must have slipped me something last night…" Because Marco flew about as well as a turkey. He was his blonde friend circle higher before dive bombing towards the deck, aiming for a short guy with dark hair, a red vest, and a straw hat. Ace stood, instantly annoyed as he recognized Luffy right before the idiot got out of the way of a powerful kick. Marco wasn't fooling around, and _that_ pissed him off. Quickly he stormed across the deck, ignoring how it shifted under his feet slightly as it rode the water. "HEY! MARCO!" He shouted, getting the other man's attention, "What have I told you about going easy on Luffy?!"

Blue eyes narrowed as the blonde stared down at him. He crossed his arms, glaring right back. He'd shoved back his confusion over the whole situation as his friend hovered in front of him. "I thought I said not to interfere, yoi."

"Since when do you order me around, bird brain?" He snapped back. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Luffy take advantage of the blonde's distraction and rush him in typical fashion. Marco saw him coming however and dodged, letting the teen's momentum take Luffy past and back onto the deck before he closed his wings and dropped, aiming a heavy kick at Luffy's back. Ace saw red, his body reacting out of years of instinct, he darted forward, bringing up both his arms in an over-the-head guard as he stood between them and took the blow. It was strong enough that his knees almost buckled. Glaring at his friend he snarled, "I can forgive you guys for sticking me on a boat somehow. I can overlook the fact that I'll miss my test, too. But one thing I _can't_ forgive is you attacking my brother!"

Marco's eyes widened in shock as he jumped back and landed on the deck. The man warily watched him as Ace looked down at Luffy. His little brother looked a bit… off. He couldn't quite place his finger on it, but it went beyond the weird clothes. The kid was giving him a strange look, too. Ace ran a hand through his hair as he huffed in annoyance, noticing for the first time that there were a lot of people watching them. He glared at them all, feeling the urge to let his flames free to let them all know just how annoyed he was.

"A-Ace?" Luffy choked out at his feet, staring at him with wide eyes.

He looked down at the teen, "_What_, Lu?"

"No, it can't be, yoi." Marco sounded shocked, "Ace is dead."

Ace turned to glare at his friend, "Fuck you, Marco. I was sleeping. You know I still get attacks sometimes."

The blonde glared at him, "You're an impostor. You're good, but not good enough."

"What is this? Some weird-ass hazing ritual with Pops?" He turned back to his brother, "And you! I thought we agreed you would wait until you were at least eighteen before even thinking about joining up, so what the _hell_ are you doing, Luffy?"

The teen blinked at this, a slightly wary expression on his face. "I'm nineteen."

"Good try, idiot, but in case you forgot, I'm three years older than you and I'm twenty, so that makes _you_ seventeen."

Luffy just looked confused as he pouted before turning to Marco. "What's going on? This isn't funny, pineapple."

"No it isn't, yoi." Marco shot him a deadly look. "Explain yourself."

"I don't have to do anything." Ace crossed his arms. He almost didn't notice Zoro stomp up to him while carrying two swords. The man paused right in front of him and gave him a penetrating look. He just snorted, "What's with the eye, Zoro? Trying a new look?" The man said nothing in response, instead he swung a sword at Ace's chest which barely avoided slicing skin as it cut his shirt. "HEY!" The second sword came whipping at his side and Ace prepared to let it pass through him.

He didn't have to, however. The arm holding the sword was stopped by a tight grip just below the wrist. The next thing he knew, Luffy was between the two of them, his red and white tank top brushing against Ace's arm, giving Zoro an annoyed look even as he settled into a fighting stance.

Zoro blinked before the look in his eye hardened. "You're not Luffy."

"And you're not Zoro! Zoro would _never_ attack my brother like that! Who the hell are you, you fake?"

"Is- is that me?" Luffy turned his head slightly just as Ace realized why his little brother had looked different. Luffy, _his_ Luffy that is, stared in shock at the version of him that was in an open red vest and he felt his brother tense.

"Ace… I think I'm having a mystery dream."

"I think it's more of a nightmare." Someone else quipped, but he couldn't see who.

"There's two of me!" Both Luffy's shouted.

Ace winced at the sound as he turned part of his attention to his ripped shirt. "You don't have to yell, I can see that."

"What the hell is going on, yoi?

He shrugged, "Hell if I know. I _thought_ someone might have spiked my drink last night and I was tripping."

"Tripping?"

"Yeah, you know, seeing things. I mean, last thing I remember I was watching _Pirates _with Luffy and Sabo, and the next thing I know I'm here." With a frown he gave up on his shirt, the thing was ruined. "I liked this shirt…" He sighed, tugging slightly and causing the rest to rip off and fall to the floor. He had to admit, the sun felt nice on his back as he rolled the kinks from his fall out.

"Shihihihi! Does this mean we're skipping classes today?"

"Well, I don't see a way back to campus, do you? Man, Sabo's gonna be pissed as hell." He turned his attention back to Marco, feeling the man's eyes boring into the center of his back. "_What?_"

"Who the hell are you and why do you look like Ace and me?" the Luffy-that-wasn't-his asked, voice hard as he now stood before them.

Luffy looked up at him, eyes full of questions, and Ace shifted ever-so slightly, cocking his head to the side as he did so. Nothing needed to be said about not trusting these look-alikes, that was a given. Still, he wondered if letting his brother take the lead was a good idea when Luffy opened his mouth. "I'm Luffy! Luffy D Marshall-I mean Monkey. Sorry 'bout that, Ace, shihihi."

"Marshall?" Marco was right in front of him now, gripping his arm tightly. "As in _Teach_? Did Blackbeard send you?" The look he was giving both brothers promised pain. Ace couldn't help the slight flinch he gave even as he told himself _Teach is dead; he can't hurt us anymore. He doesn't own us- we're free…_ "Answer me, yoi!" The grip tightened painfully.

"NO! Leave my brother alone!" Luffy was between them, shoving Marco back even as the teen panted in obvious panic over the mere mention of _that man_… Ace didn't know if Luffy's action could be seen as progress at all.

Flames roared to life across his shoulders as he glared daggers at Marco, wishing he could hide Luffy behind his back. He couldn't, there were too many people, too many threats. He couldn't protect his brother like this, and he'd be damned if Luffy got hurt. Shoving Luffy down he lunged at the false-Marco with a snarl, wanting to kill him and let fly a powerful punch that connected with the man's jaw with a crunch. "Don't you _ever_ mention _that bastard's_ name around me again!"

He wasn't surprised when the blonde only rocked back slightly, eyes widening in shock before narrowing again. If the guy was _anything_ like his Marco, a blow like that wouldn't even slow him down. "Where'd you get the Mera mera no mi, you bastard?"

"The mirror mirror…?" Luffy huffed from where he crouched at Ace's feet even as he swung around his leg like a whip towards their opponents shins. "I hate Snow White!"

"Hey! That's my devil fruit! How come fake-me has it?" came the shocked cry even as Marco dodged the blow with ease.

Luffy wasn't paying attention any longer, however, having turned and shoved his head through Ace's knees to stare at the people behind them. Of course, Ace hadn't been expecting his brother to do _that_, being braced to follow up the whip-like attack with a hard right hook, and nearly fell on top of his easily distracted younger sibling. "Luffy!"

"What?" Came the whining response from between his legs.

"Don't _do_ that!" He snapped, not taking his eyes off of Marco and firmly ignoring the man's bemused expression. He'd pound it out of him soon enough.

Luffy pulled back, hands still holding tight to Ace's thighs as he looked up at the elder with a pout. "But he said he has the same Devil-fruit, Ace!" He rocked Ace's legs, demanding attention. "He _can't_, right?"

"WOULD YOU HOLD STILL?!" Ace snapped, glaring down at Luffy even as he thumped him in the head. "We're kinda busy, remember?"

"Ace, what are you and Luffy doing?" A yawning voice drew all eyes to what looked like a folded tarp. A second yawn and two arms were thrown into the air before dropping down dramatically. "Nosiest bro-mates _ever_…." Ace wasn't shocked when Sabo's head was the next thing to appear, a hand lazily scratching at his blonde hair. "Bro-mates… yeah, don't like that one either. What do you think, guys?"

There was dead silence as Sabo took in the scene before him. Blue eyes blinked, the mouth opened and closed for a second. Ace glanced down at Luffy and flushed, realizing what it _probably_ could look like, even if Sabo knew better. _Hell, it's not like he hasn't been caught like this before…_ Luffy, of course, didn't notice. "Sabo! Wanna join us?"

"What the hell are you two doing?"

Ace blinked, remembering that he'd kind of been in the middle of a fight. "Battling look-alikes that think they're sailors-"

"Pirates!" the shout was obviously automatic as it was bellowed from almost everyone else on deck.

"-er, pirates, apparently. Want in?" He offered his best grin.

His blonde brother just looked at them all in silence for another moment. Finally he sighed, "You know what? Forget I asked. I'm just going back to bed." and promptly flopped back down.


	2. STREETSIDE UP 1

**_STREETSIDE UP_**

**_ACE POV_**

"Luffy!" Akainu was going to kill his brother.

Ace could see it happening in his mind's eye, and he knew it was his fault. His stupid, hot-headed, selfish fault. He'd known Luffy was at his limit. Felt the tremble caused by fatigue- and who knew what else- earlier. Seen him collapse not that long ago. And yet he'd put his pride before his little brother. Again. He knew Whitebeard would have wanted him to keep running and ignore the insults to the man he called Oyaji. He just had to be a prideful fool hough… and now Luffy was going to pay the price for it. Ace's heart had frozen in his chest when Sakazuki had side-stepped him completely and he's realized who the real target was. He'd hoped in that instant that Luffy would be smart enough to run as he turned. To see his body crumpled on the ground, a look of hazy shock telling him his brother couldn't get out of the way at all was the worst thing ever. He knew he was going to watch his brother die right then and something inside him snapped. Ace had never moved so fast in his life. Still, it wasn't enough. He didn't have time to redirect the blow, or even block it for that matter. All he could do was pray that in taking the blow it would slow the man down enough to spare his brother. His precious baby brother who looked up to him and loved him unconditionally. He was a horrible big brother. Ace refused to close his eyes as he appeared in front of Luffy braced for the blow, back to his own doom. Was it really so selfish that he wanted his brother to be the last thing he saw? Marco would probably say something about his brother-complex if this wasn't going to kill him. Ace couldn't stop his back from tensing, waiting for the killing blow as he gazed down at Luffy. Part of him was annoyed that the boy has closed his eyes. How many times had he told him to never close your eyes when someone was attacking you? Still, it was better if he didn't see this. How he wished he could spare Luffy the pain and the blow…

"...and so then Marco said he would meet us at the bar so A-" The voice cut off before nervously chuckling, "Oh… hey, Ace! I uh, didn't hear you come in."

Luffy opened his eyes and stared up at him, obviously as confused as he was by the sudden silence that had been interrupted by the person talking. Ace knew that voice, but he refused to look up. It was a voice he knew he'd never hear again, so there was no way that person was there.

"What the hell are you two doing? Interpretive Dance?" A different voice asked, exasperation clear in the tone. It was vaguely familiar. "Honestly Ace, I expect stupid shut from Luffy, because well. Luffy. But you should know better."

"Now Sabo, give the guy a break. Maybe the stress of dealing with the knucklehead finally got to him." Sabo? There was no way that was right. He couldn't be there. Neither could Thatch for that matter. They were dead and gone and there was no way they could be talking to him.

Afraid of what he'd see, he raised his head slightly. They were there, standing in a doorway and when had he gotten inside? Where were they?! just watching him with slightly bemused expressions. "S-Sabo?" His heart lurched. It had to be his brother even if he was ten years older than Ace remembered him. The young man still held himself the same way, the same stupid hat on his head. "Thatch?"

"Ace?" Thatch replied in the same tone before grinning. "What the hell man. You look like you've seen a ghost."

"You're dead."

The dead pirate looked hurt. "Hey! What'd I do?"

"No, you're dead." Ace clarified, "I saw you. Teach… Teach killed you."

Sabo's whole frame tensed even as he rolled his eyes. "I think he might be high."

Ace ignored the comment, still staring at the two in shock. He'd never seen Sabo's body, true. But he'd seen Thatch's body, cold and lifeless on the deck in a pool of his own blood. He remembered the feel of it, every detail standing out sharply even now. His friends, his brothers, were dead yet standing before him. He was in a new location, the battle he'd just been in missing. It all spelled out one thing to the pirate. He too was dead. That he had expected. Ace had known Sakazuki's attack was going to kill him. It was still strange that he had felt nothing, but not impossible. He glanced down at Luffy who's attention was still fixated on Ace and not the people behind him and he fought back tears. Sabou was dead, Thatch was dead, he was pretty sure he was dead… if Luffy was here as well he'd failed. Even in death he'd failed his little brother.

"A-Ace?" The teen almost whimpered. "I feel funny." He could understand that. Luffy looked horribly beat up on top of being dead. He actually looked worse than Ace, and he'd been imprisoned for months by pirate hating marines. Being dead definitely feel like he thought it would, either. He felt… normal. Hell, his cuts still stung, so he could only imagine how Luffy felt.

Sabo frowned, coming over. He knelt next to Luffy, a look of worry on his face. "What the hell did you two get into? No offence Lu, but you look like shit warmed over."

"Nah. Cold shit." Thatch added, eyeing Ace.

"There was a war-"

"Crap, there's a gang war out there?!" Thatch reached out and rested a hand on his shoulder.

"Gang…? THe marines, and Oyaji… Garp, he-"

"Your Gramps is here already? That guy is such a loose cannon." THatch tisked, "He knows he's not supposed to start anything with Whitebeard."

Ace was getting annoyed at the constant interruptions and prodding hand. He shot his friend a dirty look, opening his mouth.

"Thatch…" Sabo spoke before Ace could, "These aren't my brothers." The young man shot Ace a glare, eyes focusing on his tattoo.

"What the hell! Sabo, you know me!" Ace snapped.

"You're right. I do know Ace." Sabo stood, glaring at him, "And Ace doesn't have an 'S' in his tattoo." He roughly grabbed his shoulder and practically turned him around, "Or a tat' on his back. Ace would never put someone else's mark on him."

Ace had to admit that as as a child he would never have considered it. So in a way Sabo was right. Thatch though, Thatch would know about the tattoo on his back. "It's me! Thatch, tell him, please. You remember when I got this tattoo…"

"Watch them while I call Ace and Luffy. And maybe Marco. Something's not right here." Thatch gave him a look while he pulled a strange device pit of his pocket, "I don't know who you are but you picked the wrong person to impersonate. You'd better pray those two are alright, or I am going to more then beat you for pretending to be in Pop's gang."

"Wha- Thatch! It's me!"

"Whoa! Who's the new gang member?" A cheerful voice interrupted the staring contest followed by strange music.

"Gesh, Thatch. We're only a couple of minutes late. No reason to call." Ace heard his own voice gripe. He hadn't spoken though. "Luffy forgot to lock the door again. We had to go back."

"Goys! You're alright!" Thatch seemed relieved as he walked towards the people standing behind Ace.

Hesitantly he turned to see his friend greet a guy that had his face and a kind that looked just like Luffy. Except, these two were dressed differently, very differently. Hell, his double had a shirt on! Ace hadn't worn a shirt in over a year. Dark grey eyes met. "Who the hell are you?" Ace snarled.

"Ace. You?" His reply was in the same tone.

I'm Ace, Portgas D. Ace."

"Wow, Ace! He even knows your mom's last name!" The Luffy lookalike grinned.

"She's technically your mom, too, idiot." Fake Ace replied, a strange look crossing his face as he looked down at Luffy who was still huddled by his legs. "Well, he can't be Bonn Clay. There's two of them."


	3. SHIPSIDE DOWN 2

**SHIPSIDE DOWN**

_**Marco POV**_

Marco's eyes widened in shock as he felt an arm wrap around his waist before he was dragged backwards along with the interlopers. It was not a move he had been expecting to say the least, and in his surprise he didn't fight it right away. It was remarkably similar to Mugiwara gum-gum no rocket, a move he'd seen more than once but luckily never had experienced it. Feeling a wave of heat Marco turned his head to see a wall of _actual_ fire cutting off any attempt at pursuit.

The way Maco saw it he had two options. THe first was to take out these imposters now before they had a chance to regroup, which was their obvious plan. the second was to _let_ them regroup and see if he could figure out just what the hell was going on. There was no way two people could exist with the same devil fruit powers. Ecn if he ignored their uncanny resemblance to Mugiwara and Ace, something fishy was happening here. So he decided to go along with them for now as the smaller one of the two slowed only slightly to snatch up the blond form over by the sails before rapidly changing directions so fast it would have given Marco whiplash. They finally came to a stop inside his own cabin, ironically.

"What the hell is he doing here?" The Ace-imposter snapped out, shoving Marco as the blond,_Sabo was it?_, closed the door. "Luffy, Why'd you grab him?"

"Accident-look-s-l-k-Ma-co-!" The boy panted, hands on his knees. He glared up at the other.. "-K?"

"Ace, knock it off, now's not the time to be arguing about it anyway. Just… watch him." Marco watched as the blond knelt by the smallest, gently feeling his flushed skin, brows creased with worry. "He's burning up. Lu, you know you're not supposed to do that anymore. Sit down, alright. Deep breaths. Can't have you passing out now. Not in the middle of an adventure."

Marco raised an eyebrow, looking down at the youth who was now sitting on the edge of his bed. The one who was supposed to be guarding him kept interspersing his glares with worried glances over his shoulder towards the teen as well. "He doesn't look so good, yoi."

"Grey eyes snapped back to his face , and once again he was taken back by how much the guy looked like Ace- his Ace. "He'll be fine. Mind your own business!"

"Or what?" He smirked, "In case you haven't realised, you can't hurt me."

"Maybe not _permanently,"_ the smirk was returned with a feral look as the wouldbe-Ace held up a burning hand, "but I bet being burnt alive is still going to hurt like hell. Even if you _do_ heal right away."

Suddenly these fakes weren't so amusing anymore. "Is that supposed to be a threat?"

"Only if it has to be." He had to admit, the brat had guts, standing chest to chest with him like that.

"Knock it off, the both of you!" The blond snapped, "This _isn't _going to help us figure out what the fuck is going on Ace!"

"Stay out of it, Sabo."

"Shove it. You've never burned someone _alive_ in your life, and I'm not about to let you start now. Especially some dude who looks like the feather-head, alright? We all need enough therapy as it it, brother." Sabo's attention wasn't on either of them as he spoke. Instead, he was poking around the room. Looking in the closet her cheered, "Perfect! A little short, but better than nothing, eh?" before yanking out the metal rod that held up Marco's clothes.

He felt his eye twitch. "Could you try not to destroy the place, yoi?"

"Sorry, but I need this." the blond sat with a grin on his bed, rummaging in a pocket and pulling out a roll of something before wrapping it around the ends and middle of the pole.

The youngest reached out to touch it and the pole was moved out of his reach. "Is that that stuff Abby sent? The coral-tape?"

"Yeah. Haven't had a chance to test it yet, but...better than nothin' right?"

"Coral tape?" Marco didn't like the sound of that. He especially didn't like the grin the fake-Ace got when he happily took the pole and jabbed one of the ends into his chest. Instantly he felt his powers drain and he glowered at them. "Kairoseki." He growled.

"Ciro-what?" Dark brown eyes blinked at him, head cocked to the side before the false-Mugiwara looked between the others. "Does it work?"

"I think it does." The darker haired one replied, tentatively touching the middle strip with a hiss, "Yeah. Not as strong as some of the shit, but you stay away from it, Lu." Grey eyes met his own blue, "I don't wanna have to use this on you."

"Liar." Marco snatched at the pole, catching the young man off guard. He expected him to fight for control of the weapon and he did for a time. "Who sent you? The marines? _Blackbeard_?" A flinch, just like before, and he shoved harder, "You work for that traitor, don't you? What did he offer you, 'Ace'?"

"NOTHING!" the raw rage and pain in his voice startled Marco slightly, but he didn't loosen his grip. "_Nothing_ but pain! Day in, day out! And I _couldn't_ say no, because he'd hurt _Luffy! Why_ don't you people _get it?_ There was no choice! There was no way _out!_ We did what we had to to _survive_!" Flames danced uselessly along the young man's back, but instead of lashing out like Marco expected, they faded almost as quickly as they formed.

"ACE!" Sabo grabbed him, uncaring about the flames and amazingly not getting burned, "Ace, look at me. Look. It's ok. Give me the pole. Let go. It's ok."

"Sabo?" He sounded dazed.

"You were having an attack. It's alright." Slowly the dark haired young man released the pole and the blond looked at Marco, silently asking if he was going to be a problem. For a moment he thought about challenging him for control over it, but even without it, he could easily take them. Lazily he let go, eyes sliding up and behind the two men were the youngest still sat on the bed. His eyes were wide and he seemed to be shaking slightly, gaze fixed on nothing. Something was seriously wrong with both of the imposters. "Go sit with Luffy, yeah?"

"Lu? Luffy….you alright?"

"Ace, I wanna go home…." There was no way that was Mugiwara, but it was still disturbing to see him cling to 'Ace'. It reminded Marco too much of when they'd lost Ace… and there was no faking the pain in those shoulders that held the small body close.

Sighing he turned to the one called Sabo, "I think we have some things to talk about, yoi."

"I'd say so." The other blond replied with a sloppy grin that did nothing to hide his obvious nervousness.


	4. STREETSIDE UP 2

**Kitsune here with the next chapter of Shipside Down, Streetside Up. I want to apoligize for the wait. I've been very busy, I'm sorry. This is going to be a crazy two months for me, but I'm going to try and get back on track for you all. In other news... the next Immortality chapter should be up soon? Sorry, I don't really have anything exciting.**

* * *

**STREETSIDE UP**

_**Sabo POV**_

Sabo stood guard over the two interlopers while Thatch got on the phone trying to figure out who was best equipped to deal with them. At least he told himself he was guarding them, in all honestly it didn't look like they could do much except sit in the fold up chairs they'd dug out, beaten up as they were. The Ace-double looked to be in marginally better shape than the other one, but he wasn't so sure about that. Not with the way the man was shivering. Though, it could just be the oddness of seeing someone with Ace's face shiver. Ace _never _shivered, but of course he was made of fire. There was no way this guy had the same ability, even if he was a Devil-fruit user. It was a scientific impossibility. Then again, the guy really didn't look good at all, so it was unlikely any power he may-or-may-not have would be very useful at the moment.

The false Luffy was in even worse shape. The teen was still sitting on the floor with this very disturbing blank look in his eyes. Sabo shuddered, ignoring the animosity pouring off his brothers as he turned to Thatch, "Better see about getting them in to see a doctor."

"Yeah, that's why Izo's bringing the van, so we can all get to Kureaha's." The one who looked like Luffy jumped slightly, looking surprised as he repeated the name. Sabo wondered if he knew her somehow. Not that it would be too unusual, the woman sure got around.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Ace piped up from where he knelt, glowering at his double. "She's kind of protective over Lu especially….Crazy bat might just kill them, you know?"

Thatch hummed, "He's got a point." The man turned his attention back to his phone, "Uh, Marco...any chance Izo's in town this week?...No?...Well, Ace just reminded me how cranky the old broad can be, and honestly I don't want them to end up dead before I get to interrogate them." Pressing the phone to his chest, Thatch made a face as he looked at the three brothers, "If that's the case, we're stuck with Law."

"Cool! I thought he was visiting Abby this week!" Luffy cheered, naturally being the only one who was even remotely excited about seeing the sadistic doctor with his freaky Devil-fruit powers.

"No, not cool. He's a creep."

"I don't know, Ace. We might need creep." Sabo admitted, "He can heal them up with the added bonus of taking their legs too. Wouldn't matter if they are users or not then, yeah? Hard to get anywhere without legs."

"HEY! Quit talking about us like we're not here, asshole." The one who looked like Ace growled. Sabo was pretty sure it was supposed to be menacing, but the fact that he looked like shit kind of killed the effect.

Thatch took the opportunity to smack the man on the back of the head, not bothering to get off the phone. "Yeah, no. That was the other guy. Creepy how much they sound alike, huh? Ok, see you in a few."

"So, what if they're like, clones or something?"

"Luffy, don't be ridiculous, they can't be clones."

"But I always wanted to be a twin!"

"A clone is not a twin," Ace sighed, "And what the hell? I wasn't good enough of a brother for you? What about Sabo?"

"No, you guys are awesome! The best! It's just…." Luffy grinned, wiggling his eyebrows, "_Twins_! Think of all the classes I could skip."

"You're ignoring us again! Stop doing that!" Sabo was just going to call him Spade. Spade glared at them before turning his attention to his friend. "Do what you want to me. Just leave my little brother out of it."

The blond sighed, "We're not going to do anything to you-"

"Yet."

He ignored his brothers' interruption, "other than get you to a doctor. You guys look like shit, and call me a fool, but it's hard to look at people wearing my brother's faces looking like that. It makes me want to go break something."

"Save it for when we have answers," Thatch suggested, pointing towards the door, "our ride should be here soon."

The time passed slowly, with everyone in the building tense. It was worse than a family dinner with his parents, if he had to be honest. Though he'd only met Izo once before, the man was instantly recognizable when he walked in in a knee length skirt and baby-doll tee that proclaimed his love for My Little Ponies. Izo was weird, that was for sure, and it had nothing to do with the fact that he liked women's clothing. From what Sabo had been able to find out the man had a part time job at a salon where he was much in demand for his way with hair (He had to admit the man had gorgeous hair) and was at the same time one of the higher members of Whitebeard's group. He was apparently a crack-shot, and one of the strategists that had helped bring down Blackbeard's group. It was hard to think of the man as dangerous though when he kept running hands through your hair and telling you you'd look marvelous with a little eyeshadow.

It didn't look like Izo was going to be commenting on anyone's lack of fashion today, though. Not with the way he leveled a glare at the two imposters. "They look like shit, Thatch. What did you do, work them over before I got here?"

"I-izo? Is that you?" 'Spade' asked, an expression of shock on his face. "What are you _wearing?_"

"Do I know you, punk?"

"It's me! Ace!"

Izo snorted and rolled his eyes before looking at Ace. "As you can see, we already have an Ace." He stalked over to the two of them and roughly turned their heads. "They certainly do _look_ like our boys. I don't like it." Izo pulled out two sets of handcuffs, "I don't know who you are or why you're here, but you're not going anywhere until you put these on."

Both the imposters smirked, though the Luffy-look-alike's smirk looked a little wain. Those looks were wiped off their face the moment Izo snapped the cuffs on them. "What the hell?!"

"Coral lined handcuffs." Izo gave them a dark look of his own, "Since you noticed, it's obvious that you have taken Devil-fruit. And seeing that you haven't changed physically I'm placing my bet on plastic surgery."

"Of course we have devil fruit abilities, you asshole! And what the hell is this plastic surgery thing you're talking about?!"

Thatch cuffed 'Spade' on the head again to shut him up, "Get moving. We got an appointment to keep, and trust me, you don't wanna keep Law waiting."

"Heaven forbid we keep that psycho waiting…." Ace grumbled as he and Luffy fell into step flanking the interlopers.

Luffy grinned, "I like Law, he's fun."

"That's because you have no sense of danger, little brother." Sabo chuckled as he held the door the the van open, "Get in. If nothing else, Law will patch you right up."

"Wha-what is it?"

"It's a car, kiddo. Haven't you ever seen one before?"

"Um. No?" Dark brown eyes blinked up at Sabo innocently, reminding him way too much of his brother, "What's it do?"

"Get in and you'll see."


End file.
